Made big: The happy return of the Made in America 2013 festival

Thanks to the turnout at last year's Made in America festival, organizers have increased the daily capacity to 60,000 this year. MICHAEL S. WIRTZ / Staff Photographer

Amped up with huge names, more space

By Dan DeLuca, Inquirer Music Critic

Posted: August 31, 2013

Last Labor Day weekend, as he stood on a stage in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Jay Z looked out over the 40,000 music fans arrayed before him and pronounced the event "the first annual Made in America festival."

This weekend, MIA - officially known as Budweiser Made in America - returns to the Ben Franklin Parkway. Big crowds are expected, with the capacity boosted to 60,000 per day, and big names are performing.

As in 2012, a member of Jay Z's household will headline on Saturday night. This year, it's Beyoncé, wife of the man in charge. And on Sunday, the fest will once again be closed out by an alt-rock band that built its reputation a good 20 years ago. Instead of Pearl Jam, this time it's Nine Inch Nails, whose new album Hesitation Marks comes out Tuesday.

A diverse range of acts will play the fest, from glam electronic duo Empire of The Sun to heart-on-sleeve Jersey rockers the Gaslight Anthem to legendary rap firebrands Public Enemy. Here is a selection of acts not to miss.

Beyoncé. Queen B tops the bill on Saturday night, the MIA day with the stronger feminine presence, with Brit singer Emeli Sandé and L.A. sister act Haim also on the bill. It was expected that, by now, Beyoncé would have released a new album to go along with her ongoing Mrs. Carter tour, which came through Philadelphia in July. But so far, she has chosen to carry on without one. Will she be joined on stage by her husband, Shawn "Jay Z" Carter? If he knows what's good for him, yes.

Nine Inch Nails. On Sunday evening, MIA will turn into an altogether heavier affair, with Scottish dance music-maker Calvin Harris sandwiched between Josh Homme's Queens of the Stone Age guitar army and Trent Reznor's show-closing Nine Inch Nails. It's been almost a quarter of a century since Reznor, a native of Mercer, Pa., first made industrial-rock palatable to the masses with NIN's Pretty Hate Machine in 1989. He sounds reinvigorated on Hesitation Marks, due out Tuesday, and has promised a stage show inspired by the Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense movie.

deadmau5. People dress up in goofy outfits at music festivals. The best spotted at MIA last year was a woman costumed as "Skrillex-deadmau5 girl," a combination of the side-shaved hairdo and big glasses look of last year's electronic dance-music headliner Skrillex, and the giant mouse-ears mask of this year's, deadmau5. In his Saturday night appearance immediately preceding Beyoncé's slot, you won't see the face of deadmau5 - Canadian progressive house producer Joel Zimmerman - but you will hear his bass wobbling, synth-heavy, big-beat music shaking the Benjamin Franklin Parkway down to the ground.

Kendrick Lamar & Black Hippy. Kendrick Lamar (right) is the member of the Black Hippy rap crew who broke through big and set hip-hop on its ear earlier this month by calling out competitors on a verse from Big Sean's "Control," in which the Californian had the temerity to call himself the "King of New York." (Harlem's A$AP Rocky, also on the MIA bill, suggested Lamar is "smoking crack" if he believes what he raps.) There is strength in numbers, however, and Lamar and his Black Hippy buddies Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock are all on the bill Sunday.

Miguel. Pompadoured-singer Miguel Jontel Pimentel firmly established himself with last year's superb Kaleidoscope Dream, one of 2012's strongest releases. Things haven't been going so great for him of late, what with accidentally kicking a fan in the head while stage diving at the Billboard Music Awards in May and getting arrested on a DUI charge while driving his Porsche in Los Angeles this month. ("How Many Drinks?" indeed.) Don't let the tabloid fodder distract you from his talent, though. Miguel, who plays MIA on Sunday, is the rare R&B-pop-rock synthesist who can take a page out of the Prince playbook without embarrassing himself.

Made in America

On Benjamin Franklin Parkway, near Eakins Oval, beginning at noon Saturday and Sunday. The schedule is subject to change. Tickets: $99-$499, available at www.ticketmaster.com or www.livenation.com. Factory-sealed water bottles and small handheld umbrellas allowed. No reentry. Information: MadeInAmericafest.com